Marketing, advertising & media intelligence

Youtube VideoMore like a film launch than a traditional ad campaign, Kiwibank’s cheeky new EasySwitch campaign, which encourages consumers to switch banks via an interactive YouTube channel called ‘Green Ops' that looks and feels like a first-person POV-style game, has taken out the Colmar Brunton Ad Impact Award for August.

Complete with blockbuster movie trailer effects, it’s certainly not your traditional bank campaign. The site is built around a loose narrative of an elite team whose mission is to help rescue customers from bad banking experiences and visitors to the channel can hunt for ‘hotspots’ where they’ll find random moments of humour and discovery, not to mention some lees than subtle references to its competitors. Could one of banking’s best loved personalities have made the switch? Watch out for the cameo: “Kiwibank, you complete me.”

“The ‘gamification’ aims to provide a richer and more engaging experience,” says Kiwibank’s Nicky Ashton. “It’s kind of like Get Smart meets The Bourne Identity, as the ‘Green Ops’ team goes around making it easier for people to switch to Kiwibank.”

There are also games to play, videos to watch, and competitions to win (there's now even the chance for switchers to win a black Smart car) and the channel also features a number of interactive elements allowing users to share their experience with friends via social media.

“The feedback we’ve had from people who have interacted with the site has been overwhelmingly positive,” says Ashton. “It’s created a real buzz.”

As well as cleverly spoofing other campaigns, the initiative positions Kiwibank as something different and worth checking out, which is exactly what an ad for switching banks should do.

“We utilised every in-house facility to the max to achieve this look,” says Ogilvy’s Dave Nash, whose collaborative effort alongside Damon O'Leary, Peter Vegas and Glenn Wood, produced the distinctive and creative result. “The entire team was buzzing, ideas were flying, and the product just grew bigger and better as we progressed.”

Z Energy's campaign by Assignment Group, which takes us onto the forecourt and tries to depict a caring company that’s keen to hear what customers have to say and was keen on giving back to local neighbourhoods, also stood out.

"The branding of this ad is outstanding," says Dixon. "The consistent use of the same music and the strategically placed ‘Z’ logo, is integrating these brand cues well into the main focus of the ads."

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On Monday, Whittaker’s launched its latest novelty chocolate-lolly mash up with a chocolatey answer to retro bakesale treat coconut ice. The Coconut Ice Surprise chocolate has a twist though, 20c from each block goes to Plunket – a charity which New Zealanders agree is a worthy cause. However, to relate the chocolate to the charity, Whittaker's has built the campaign around baby gender reveal parties, causing a backlash from the public who argue gender norms have expanded beyond blue for boys and pink for girls.

Genius From Elsewhere

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With over 10,000 fires occuring in South Korea residential homes every year, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance has created a flower vase that doubles as a throwable fire extinguisher. The hope is it will raise awareness to the public safety issue of home fire safety.

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Advertisers have stopped buying ads on YouTube after their ads appeared on children's videos where pedophiles had infiltrated the comment section.The New York Times investigates the comments.

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The internet has been up in arms about a supposed 'Anti-LGBT' emoji, featuring a rainbow flag alongside the "no" symbol. However, according to Time, the emoji causing offence is actually "an unfortunate implementation of the standards that govern how text is displayed on our device".

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This year, Super Bowl audiences were treated to a 45-second video of Andy Warhol eating a Burger King Whopper. It was certainly a campaign unlike any before, but did it work? Adweek takes a look.

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As of 1 March, Queenslanders will be able to include one of five emojis alongside their licence places. The options—the laughing-crying face, the winking face, the sunglasses face, the heart-eyed face, or the classic smiley face—are courtesy of Personalised Plates Queensland.

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